Earth Day – 5 Tips

In honor of this holiday (is it really a holiday? Shouldn’t someone be giving me gifts or something?), here are some simple tips on how to be more green.

Flip the switch: Yep, just turn of that light when you leave a room. Also, if you have a room that gets great natural lighting, don’t turn on a light at all! (Bonus tip: change out all of your light bulbs for those low energy ones that last forever and save money, too!)

Tap water: Did you know that the bottled water industry sold 8.8 billion gallons of water in 2010, generating nearly $11 billion in profits and the energy required to produce and transport these bottles could fuel an estimated 1.5 million cars for a year. According to treehugger.com 1500 plastic water bottles are used EVERY SECOND!!! Wow, all that just to have someone else fill up a bottle for me and slap a label on it. Make a commitment to make this small change: Fill up your own water bottle! Yes, it is that easy!

Peddle Power: No, not “flower power”, peddle power. Try to start eliminating one car trip a week by riding your bike. Headed to the store down the street for a few things? Ride your bike instead of turning the key. It’s a small change that can add up!

Be a Bag Lady: Bring your own bags to the grocery store or farmers market. You eliminate the waste of plastic or paper bags, plus some stores, like Target, give you 5¢ off your total for every bag you use. Bonus!! Save the Earth and save money!

Up-cycle: This one is my favorite. Instead of buying new and getting the same thing that everyone else has, go thrift shopping! Get something gently used and make it your own with a new coat of paint, or a coat of furniture wax. Same goes for clothes. I have been to thrift stores where the clothes on the racks still have the original tags! Bring it home and wear as is, or add your own touch, change up that t-shirt into a tank. Pinterest has tons of ideas on up-cycling clothing!

There you have it, now start hugging some trees and make everyday Earth Day, after all, it’s the only planet we’ve got!